Saturday night at the movies…

Japanese Chirashi movie posters – the Star Wars franchise and a continuing saga!

1982. Return of the Jedi. Teaser.

‘Chirashi’ eh? … he sounds familiar, was he one of Jabba’s henchmen, or an Ewok?

No. A Chirashi is not a Star Wars character but a small double-sided poster handed out at cinemas in Japan to advertise upcoming movies. And TVTA is absolutely delighted to bring you one of the most comprehensive gatherings of Japanese Star Wars film posters this side of the galaxy! Featuring examples of every Star Wars film made to date and more bad puns than you can shake a Gaderffii stick at… this post is sure to have those nasty Imperials hot on our tails!

The Empire Strikes Back / Return of the Jedi. 1986 Double-feature theatre release.

Three-D-PO and Artoo-Won’t-Do

Among my favourites in my Star Wars Chirashi collection is this Phantom Menace 3D poster. Prior to the Disney purchase of Lucasfilm in 2012, George Lucas had intended to make 3D versions of all six films in the Star Wars Prequel and Original Trilogies. The idea was put on ice in favour of concentrating on ‘rebooting the franchise’ with Episode VII and other new films. Hence, only one of the first six films made it as a 3D cinema release – The Phantom Menace in 2012.

2012. The Phantom Menace 3D.

A long time ago in a gallery far, far away

I need to add something for the 2008 animated release The Clone Wars, and I’m yet to find anything for the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special or the two Ewok films – Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: Battle for Endor. If any of these turn up I’ll be sure to include them along with the forthcoming releases… with episode XI scheduled for December 2019, a third instalment of the standalone Star Wars Story in 2020, and talk of future new-character trilogies – this gallery is destined to cause a great disturbance in the force!

That’s no moon… it’s TVTA!

As always, thanks for looking 🙂 Click the images below to make bigger.

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9 thoughts on “Saturday night at the movies…”

OH WOW! I had seen the Force Awakens, Last Jedi and SOLO posters but hadn’t seen the Original Trilogy and Prequels posters like this! The picture SW06, The Return of the Jedi is interesting as Luke is seen holding a blue bladed lightsaber. These posters were produced and sent out before the final cut of the movie in which Lucas had to change the colour to green as it didn’t show up clearly enough against the sky and sand of Tatooine. I didn’t know they had reached Japan before being updated. Cool! Thanks TVTA!

Thanks. It’s taken me a few years to gather the basic collection, now I just have to chase the variants. Re the lightsabers, you’re right, you can also see colour discrepancies in the vintage toy line too.

Yes I remember Luke having a Yellow saber in the early toys. Yellow sabers weren’t seen in Star Wars until the Rebels animated series I think when the Jedi Temple Guards appeared with their staffs. If I may ask where is a good place to start looking for Chirashi products, I might want to get a few myself.

Search for ‘chirashi’ or ‘Japanese film posters’ on eBay. Find a seller located in Japan if you’re looking for multi buys as usually you pay for the postage on the first one and the rest are free post up to about eleven chirashi or so. Most will throw in some freebies too 🙂 If you’re after older and rarer ones be sure to ask the question if they are original as there are some copies about. Most good sellers state up front that they only sell originals. More recent films are no danger as they are so cheap to buy anyway, between 2 and 4 pounds per poster – remember they are only small and paper so quite cheap. Let me know if you get some, would love to see some more chirashi!

Thanks for the advice, I’m not sure just yet as I have a few real life expenditures to take care of but would like to get some in future. I did have a few theatrical posters from my local cinema (perk of knowing the chief projectionist!) but lost them over time in house moves etc.

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